Cultural relation between India and Japan dates back
to sixth century when Buddhism got introduced in
Japan and through Buddhism Japanese culture was
impacted upon by Indian culture. There are many
parallels in the religious beliefs of India and Japan.
For example Indian deities Sawaswati, Brahma and
Yama has parallel representation in Japanese culture
in the form of Benzaiten, Bonten and Enma
respectively. First political contact by Japan was
through the Portugese colonies in India. Between
sixteenth and nineteenth centuries Indian seamen
visited Japan as crew members aboard Portugese and
British ships. Relations between the two nations had
progressed since then. Direct political exchange
between India and Japan began after 1868 when
Japan set its path ontowards the process of modernization.
Japan-India Association was founded in 1903. Cultural
exchanges occurred during the twentieth century in
1950s and 1960s mainly through the cultural exposure
of the two civilizations by means of feature films which
at that time mainly represented the political and
economic conditions , psyche ,beliefs and ideologies of
the society in general. It also enabled creative minds
of both the countries to come closer and paved way
for deeper interaction between the population of both
the countries. Creations of reknown and acclaimed film
personalities like Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt were
influential in Japan; similarly creations of
Akirakurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu were influential in India.
There had been instances of friendship and exchange
of thoughts between Japanese thinker Okakura
Tenshin and Indian writer the Nobel laureate
Rabindranath Tagore, Okakura Tenshin and Bengali
poet Priyamvada Banerjee.
India had extended her support to Japan when after
World War II in 1951 owing to the concerns over
constraints imposed on Japanese sovereignty and her
independence India refrained from attending San
Francisco Peace conference . Official and diplomatic
relation was established with Japan after India and
Japan signed a peace treaty in 28 April 1952 in which
India waived off all reparation claims against Japan.
This treaty was one of the first treaties signed with
Japan in her favour after World War II. Economic,
diplomatic and technical relations were established
between India and Japan. Indian's supply of iron ore
helped Japan to rebuild her infrastructural industry
and thereby her economy and thus greatly aided in
her recovery after world war II . Japan on the
other hand had become the largest donor of aide for
India and till today remains so. Japan is one of the
largest ODA (Official Development Assistance)
facilitator of India. As on 30th November, 2015, sixty
five projects are under implementation with Japanese
loan assistance. Coordial relations between the two
countries include but are not limited to Air service,
culture and heritage, economic ties, commerce,
cooperation in the field of science and technology,
student exchange programme etc.
A few aspects of Indo-Japanese synergies are ,the
abundance of human capital in India complementing
the abundance of monetary capital but paucity of
human capital in Japan;India's efficiency in software
sector lending synergy to the hardware sector of
Japan; large domestic market of India factoring in
for investment in fields like automobiles and auto
parts and different machineries.
Examples of Indo-Japanese economic ties are CEPA
and DMIC, both of which merit a separate mention
with respect to close relationship between India and
Japan.
CEPA or Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement: This agreement was signed between India and Japan on 16th February 2011 and was brought into effect in
the month of August of 2011 itself. In addition to accelerating business activities this agreement aimed at elimination of tariff on 90 percent of imports in India
by Japan while eliminating tariff on 97 percent of exports to Japan from India. While Japanese exports to India are products such as auto parts and electric appliances Indian exports to Japan are petroleum ,agricultural and fishery, gems and jewellery, ferroalloys, inorganic/organic chemicals etc.
DMIC or Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor:- The two
countries had agreed to collaborate on DMIC project.
The developmental scheme of DMIC included
construction of one 4000 megawatt power plant,
six-lane intersection free expressway, six airports,
three ports and a high speed freight-line and
development of nine industrial zones.
Nuclear energy is a key component to cut down carbon
emission and with that aim in view civil nuclear deal is
another aspect where cooperation between India and
Japan is on the increase. During the very recent visit
of Japanese prime minister Mr. Shinzo Abe to India in
December 2015, an agreement on civil nuclear energy
cooperation was signed which according our prime
minister Mr. Narendra Modi is a shining symbol of a
new level of mutual confidence aimed towards a
peaceful and secure world. Japan has committed to
substantial cooperation of India's first bullet train and
investment of $12 billion in India by the Japanese
companies.
An agreement on sharing of technology , equipment and
military information was also signed. Japan's regular
participation in Malabar series of exercises held
primarily between Indian and US was also positively
determined. Talks are going on for acquisition of
Japanese amphibious aircraft US-2 made by
ShinMaywa industries of Japan.
All the above details emphasizes on the age old
cooperation between the two countries for centuries
fulfilling each other's socioeconomic needs in a very
peaceful and mutually synergized manner .
The recent developments between India and Japan
comes at a time when China is making her claims over
the South China Sea, Senkaku Islands , hard
transgressing the LAC thereby trying to encroach and
occupy Indian territory by the inches, supporting
Pakistan in thwarting India's claim in the NSG and
arming her as well,building dams in PoK which belongs to India without India's consent, is increasingly becoming aggressive in the IOR and South China sea with her claims over
the natural resources.
The size of China’s national defence budget has more
than doubled over the past five years and has grown
approximately 30 times over the past 24 years. The
primary focus is on the modernization of Chinese air
force and navy. In 1990 China had 55 surface combat
ships out of which 16 were big ships of 3000 tons of
load displacement but, by 2012 the number of big
ships had increased to 55 taking the total number to 78.
Big ships are capable of operating in a wider area than
small ships. Till date China possesses 10 nuclear
submarines as well. It can be concluded that China’s
aggressive assertiveness in the West Pacific and in the
Indian Ocean brings to the fore her expansionist policy in Asia which merits for a strong
cooperation between the affected nations both
militarily and economically. India and Japan with their
age old cultural exchanges and peaceful coexistence are
natural candidates to fill the power vacuum in Asia and
counter the aggressive assertiveness of China.While
Japan is a technological giant in nearly every aspect
of modern era her self imposed constraint of
maintaining a miniscule defence force post world war II
may have emboldened Chinese ambitions in the South
China Sea.In recent times China has become highly
assertive in her claims over Senkaku islands and
aggrressive in her patrols in the IOR. India with her big
naval force (currently approximately 32 big ships) and with the navy fighter jets have a great potential to become a security
provider in the IOR which eventually also forms the
route of supply of energy resources for Japan on which
she heavily depends. India's restraint of use of military
power has enabled her to gain a position of immense
trust among peace loving nations. Indian forces had
been largely reactive and had been involved primarily
in peacekeeping operations. Owing to Japanese shift
towards arms export from April 2014 ,thereby departing
from the self-imposed arms export ban, agreements
concerning transfer of defence equipment and
technology were signed during the last visit of
Japanese Prime minister Mr. Shinzo Abe to India thus
opening a new chapter between India and Japan in defence cooperation. This cooperation involves
carrying out of joint research, development and
production projects. Japan had been earmarked as a
priviledged partner in defence projects by our defence
minister Mr. Manohar Parrikar.
As a joint venture project to start with India and Japan
can coproduce the US-2 amphibious seaplane in India
and India can absorb two squadrons, one for the navy
and another for the air force, which will only enhance
the blue water capabilities of Indian navy and will add
a marine wing to the IAF. The distribution of the
amphibious aircraft between the two forces will have
strategic importance in enabling them to support each
other during crunch situations and facilitate in relatively
easy maintenance of the aircraft due to divided
workload for the same. With Japan already progressing
impressively in their quest for building their first fifth
generation aircraft and India cooperating with Russia
to obtain her own, future and present Indo-Japan joint areal war games can become a huge learning venture for
air operations against a common adversary in the form
of China. The prospect of civil and defence related
co-operations between India and Japan is likely to
augur into greater strategic partners and their joint
operations can be a huge balancing factor in the
containment of unjust aggression by the
expansionist countries and become a force to be
reckoned in the IOR.
Written By Debojyoti Kumar
